You Know You're a Fairy Tale Blogger When....

Guys! Guys wait for me! <runs on out of breath>. You guys <gasp> I'm not <pant> dead I swear, I just <wheeze> have no time!

About two weeks ago I was tagged in the fun "You Know You're a Fairy Tale Blogger When..." series. I am only just getting around to compiling a list, and I am not even sure if I am worthy of being tagged. Fairy Tale blogging has alas slipped down to the lower end of my priority list what with grad school and day job and job hunting and dramagurging and lit managing and family and fiance and friends and other blog.

However, I will give it a shot. It will be short, because my colleagues have already summed up many of my thoughts.

1) Your automatic reaction to any story is "Oh, that's like X fairy tale!" "That sounds like The Juniper Tree!" "That sounds like Godfather Death!"

2) Hedgehogs are always named Hans.

3) You insert yourself into any conversation regarding fairy tales (even two strangers walking home at night talking about OUAT), and feel confidant debating all comers.

4) You try to make all school projects somehow about fairy tales (-cough- using Arne-Thompson as a system of organization in a library assignment. -cough-)

5) Your Dream House pinterest page is a cottage castle in the woods with lots of secret passages and vines and towers.

6) You feel a little paranoid and a little bad ass when walking at night in red outerwear.

7) Regardless of ratings, you feel compelled to read every fairy tale adaptation, and watch every movie and tv show because you have the paranoid worry your readers might get mad if you don't.

8) You see fairy tale symbolism everywhere. An apple, a clear shoe, a bean, a mirror, a rose.

9) You save every scrap of fairy tale news in case you want/ have time to blog about it later.

10) When adapting fairy tales collaboratively, your friends do not understand why you are being stubborn and getting emotional about certain elements. (Kai and Gerda having a happy ending in a theatrical adaptation of "The Snow Queen").

That is what I've got! Check out what everyone else said too, it's really fun! Thank you for including me on this, fellow bloggers!

I am now tagging Cate from Something To Read for the Train to keep the list going!

Kristin from Tales of Faerie
Gypsy from Once Upon a Blog
Heidi of SurLaLune
Adam of Fairy Tale Fandom
Tahlia from Diamonds and Toads and Timeless Tales
Kate at Enchanted Conversation
Kristina at Twice Upon a Time
Reilly, co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tales Society
Christie at Spinning Straw into Gold

MASSIVE Fairy Tale Roundup: Gender Roles, Branagh's Cinderella Movie, Malificent Spoilers, Frozen in OUAT?, Non-Fiction Fairy Tale Books, Fairy Tales and Conflict Resolution, OUAB Interview, and Restoration!

Oh my gosh. So much fairy tale news, so little time. I feel like the White Rabbit, always rushing from one thing to the next. The semester is ending for both me and the students, so there is constantly one last thing to do. However, I have found a small oasis of time to devote to Dark Foresting. Here goes...

Gender Roles: Native American vs. Victorian Fairy Tales
A beautiful examination of gender roles by Tales of Faerie.  She looks at the expectations of women in each culture and how their fairy tales reflect those roles.

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Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella Wows at CinemaCon.
Both Io9 (with hilarious commentary) and Once Upon a Blog reported on how well the new Cinderella footage was received at CinemaCon. Cate Blanchett blew everyone away as the evil stepmother, and Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger (two amazing actresses whose work I adore) are the evil stepsisters. And there are CGI mice with vests. And Robb Stark as the prince. It seems to hit the Disney nostalgic story telling sweet spot. Once Upon a Blog has some nice details to add to the Io9 story, as well as amazing live action reference photos from the animated Cinderella.

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Maleficent Revelations

Once Upon a Blog revealed to us an amazing Japanese trailer for Maleficent that emphasized her sinister nature, not her misunderstood and wronged back story. I like it. 

She also provided us with the transcript for an IMDB forum conversation with a Disney official assuaging fears and answering fans' questions about the movie, including "Will we see Maleficent as a dragon?" It has LOADS of spoilers, so beware. It also states that the writers drew inspiration from the ancient Welsh tale of Culhwch and Olwen and Spencer's The Faerie Queene.

Annnnd loads more clips of the film with additional information and never before seen footage and an interview with Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning. I am now really intrigued by her raven companion. 

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(Fan made Poster)

Anna, Elsa and Merida in OUAT?

I do not know how I feel about this. Once Upon a Blog reports that Anna, Elsa, and maybe Merida might be headed to Storybrooke. This feels like they are capitalizing on their popularity, rather than having any real reason for them there. These are also very clearly Disney invented characters, rather than something based on a fairy tale or old story. It is a big departure from the rules set out by the show. But then, OUAT has turned into a big fanfiction clusterfuck anyway, so why not throw in some characters to bring back viewers who have abandoned the show. (That is not to say that I hate OUAT. If I still did my episode reviews I would squee all over OutlawQueen. And Rumple is getting very interesting again.) Once Upon a Blog has some interesting ideas for if Merida joined the OUAT cast.

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Tales of Faerie Reviews Awesome Books

Tales of Faerie, a beacon if fairy tale scholarship, has reviewed a few prominent non-fiction books for us!

- The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives by Sheldon Cashdan: She disagrees with the author's claim that children see their own sins in the villains of the stories. 

-  Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale by Catherine Orenstein (one of my very favorite fairy tale analysis books). She follows up her review of this stellar book with an exploration of Little Red Riding Hood and Feminism

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Fairy Tales for Conflict Resolution

Tales of Faerie discovered this really amazing video about how drama is created in the work place through the fairy tale paradigm of Persecutor, Victim and Rescuer, and how we must break out of the scripted roles to get to the root of the problem. (She seems to have since taken down the post, but it was pretty cool!) [EDITED: Here it is! ]

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Tales of Faerie Interviews InkGypsy from Once Upon a Blog

Fascinating interview by a fairy tale blogger with a fairy tale blogger all about philosophies of fairy tales why we do what we do.

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Restoration: A New Comic Series about Gods

Bill Willingham, creator of Fables, is now doing a new comic series called Restoration about all the gods of the world being restored to power in the modern day. They create a massive pantheon; not good news for us mere mortals.